‘YOU HAVE BEEN, IN MANY RESPECTS, A COMPLETE ENIGMA TO ME’
Dec 6th, 2007 by Conor McCabe
So said Judge Peter Beaumont.
His words were to Samina Malik, a former Heathrow shop assistant, who was found guilty last month of writing poetry of such danger as to constitute a threat to the British state. Samina was a teenager when she wrote the poetry. The legislation fell under the British 2000 Terrorism Act. Here are some examples of her poetry.
From the Guardian, 6 December 2007.
One poem, called The Living Martyrs, said: “For the living martyrs are awakening/ And kuffars [non-believers] world soon to be shaking.”
Another line ran: “Let us make jihad/ Move to the front line/ To chop chop head of kuffar swine.”
A second poem was called How to Behead. “It’s not as messy or as hard as some may think/ It’s all about the flow of the wrist,” it read.
Another section said: “No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream/ But ignore the donkey’s ass/ And continue to slice back and forth/ You’ll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe/ But don’t stop/ Continue with all your might.”
The world of literature might be, or might not be, a safer place after Samina’s conviction. The idea that Britain is a safer place after her conviction is simply laughable.
And here, from Clattery MacHinery’s blog on poetry.
How to BeheadHold him
Tie the arms behind his back
And bandage his legs together
Just by the ankles
Blindfold the punk
So that he won’t hesitate as much
For on seeing the sharp pointy knife
He’ll begin to shake
And continuously scream like an eedyat
And jiggle like a jelly
Trust me–this will sure get you angry
It’s better to have at least two or three brothers by your side
Who can hold the fool
Because as soon as the warm sharp knife
Touches his naked flesh
He’ll come to know what’ll happen
It’s not as messy or as hard as some may think,
It’s all about the flow of the wrist.
No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream
But ignore the donkey’s ass
And continue to slice back and forth
You’ll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe
But don’t stop
Continue with all your might.
About now you should feel the knife vibrate,
You can feel the warm heat being given off,
But this is due to the friction being caused.
It needs to be pointed out that Samina Malik was convicted under the 2000 Terrorism Act, one that updated the previous Prevention of Terrorism Acts - acts infamous for the conviction of the Guilford Four, the Brimingham Six, and the Maguire Seven. From 2000 to 2005, there were 750 detentions under the act, giving rise to 22 convictions - a rate of 2.9%. We can now add Simina Malik and her poetry to that total.
It was pointed out at the time of the 2000 Terrorism Act that its provisions could lead to the conviction of the Wolf Tones. It was said that the act was not intended for such a procedure, and that to talk of such was hyperbole.
From the Wolf Tones classic, Go On Home British Soldiers
We’re not British, we’re not Saxon we’re not English
We’re Irish and proud we are to be
So fuck your Union Jack We want our country back
We want to see old Ireland free once moreSo Go on home British Soldiers Go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own
For 800 years we’ve fought you without fear
And we will fight you for 800 moreWe’ll fight them British Soldiers for the cause
We’ll never bow to Soldiers because
Troughout our history We were born to be free
So geo out British bastards leave us beIf you stay British Soldiers If you stay
You’ll never ever beat the IRA
For the 14 men in Derry
Are the last that you will bury
So take a tip And leave us bloody beSo Go on home British Soldiers Go on home
Have you got no fucking homes of your own
For 800 years we’ve fought you without fear
And we will fight you for 800 more
Simina received a nine-month suspended sentence yesterday. The judge pointed out that she had already served four months detention while awaiting trial. On top of this, she has been under house arrest since 9 November, awaiting sentencing. That’s four months in prison, one month under house arrest, and nine months suspended, for writing poetry.
Not to worry. Samina is a muslim, and most of us are not. Indeed, that includes the mighty Wolf Tones. So us bloggers should be all right for the moment. Nothing to see here.
I read on a BBC site that “The UK is the only European nation to have suspended article five of the European Convention on Human Rights which prevents arbitrary detention without trial.. The Act in question above is obviously before Sep 11th. The 2001 act which followed Sep 11 takes another slice off the liberty cake. Among other things it allows the Home Secrectary to detain people without trial for a period of … well, indefinitely actually.
It’s true. The legislation arising from Northern Ireland was seen to be redundant, what with the peace process and all that, but the police had got very used to the lax levels and so, hey, it’s updated in 2000 to include poetry. The 2000 terrorism act is available here:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2000/20000011.htm
In general I’ve no problem with people being sentenced for producing this type of garbage, although it seems in this case it was more a teenager letting off steam than widely disseminated hate material.
I don’t think you can have a de facto position that just because it is a piece of writing (or a speech for that matter) it is harmless. Was Ian Paisley’s speech decrying the presence of Catholics on the Shankill in 1966 harmless? As for the Wolfe Tones, is it entirely normal that they should be free to glorify the Provos while other European countries ban groups with lyrics glorifying fascism or racism?
Then again, if action was taken against all types of writing similar to the poetry above nearly every death metal band in the UK would be in jail.
I guess the context of the material is what really matters and if it is designed or likely to influence others to act.
I agree, but this goes far beyond freedom of speech issues. Her poetry has been deemed to be a terrorist act. We need to step back here and just have a look at what is going on when a piece of poetry can be seen as an act of terrorism. she was not charged under incitement to hatred, but under terrorist legislation. That is a fundamental shift.
If nothing else, it shows that “terrorism” and “terrorist act” in Britain today are completely meaningless. The definition of terrorism now includes bad teenage poetry. It’s saying that bad poetry is up there with the Madrid bombings, or 9/11, or the Harrods bombings, or the Birmingham pub bombings. and if bad poetry can make it onto the list, well, so can blogs. I mean, not just offensive, but actually terrorist? We need to step back form this. It’s going to end up with burning books, or, in today’s world, burning servers.
Britain is gradually turning into a police state, and the Muslims are becoming the first official enemy. It will only be expression of ‘terrorist’ sentiment on behalf of the official enemy that will be a crime.
if bad poetry can make it onto the list, well, so can blogs
I’m willing to bet you could write this:
on a British blog and not get into any difficulties whatsoever. The asterisks are in the original, btw.
rofl. when I saw this on the news, I was getting all up in arms about freedom of speech and thought….
…
Having read the stuff. Nah, fuck her. Send her to prison!
Crimes against literature!
bara, regarding crimes against literature? you really do want bloggers sent to jail, don’t you?
Hugh, thanks for the lyrics. You’re now launched a fatwa against this site. byw, where did you get the lyrics?
Here:
http://atangledweb.typepad.com/weblog/2006/09/the_fiveyear_gu.html#comment-22282155l
As far as I gathered it wasn’t the poems which were the issue but the training manuals etc that she downloaded from the net. Still very very thin… but not quite the same as literary censorship of a particularly pernicious kind.
Actually she reminds me of nothing so much as a misanthropic Goth…
Nope. she was found not guilty on the separate charges of the training manuals.
The issue is the poems. That’s it. On everything else she was found not guilty. The poems alone. That’s what makes her a terrorist. Poetry.
update (8 December, 12.47pm): she was cleared of the charge of possessing material for terrorist purposes, but the training manuals she downloaded were back of the guilty verdict. So, you’re right there, WBS. I got the charges mixed up. Better get rid of that anarchist cookbook then.
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